Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127718
.. .. . .INTERVIEW Amos Bilbao By J ohn Dickinson m os Bilbao turned on h is fa mous cheeky grin w he n tol d th at Cycle News was in teres ted in an interview with him. "Tell them I like women, especially American wo men:' was the diminuti ve Spanish trials star's instant response. It was a typical remark fro m Bilbao, who is the greatest sporting rarity, a natural character, So many top-class spo rtsmen are so serious, so single-minded in their quest to b e th e b est that th ey become one-dimensional. Sadly, motorcycle sport is full of them. Happily, when a gen ui ne personality emerges, th ey . shine all the brighter . Such is Amos Bilbao. In 1995, thou gh, Bilbao will need all his natural hum or to lift his game, as follow ing five consecutive years as a fully su p ported factory rider for Pan tie, Gas Gas and most recently Montesa, he now fin ds h imself back on the priva teers' ben ch. A disastrou s 1994 season on the factory prot otype Mo n tesa saw Bilbao plummet d o wn th e World Ch am p ions hip rank ings from a heady fourth in '93 (achieved on a very sta ndard-looking Cota 312) to 12th last season - his worst result since he first scored Wor ld Champio nship points back in '88. Bilbao's ra p id fall fro m grace is a gra phi c illustration of the fragile existen ce of th e international sports star. Hea dlines one day, his tory the next. So as Bilbao faces his toughest season ye t; th er e' s ti me to lo ok b ack on the car eer to d at e of Wor ld Ch ampion ship Trials' most favorite character. And yes, Bilbao will answer the $64,000 qu estion "What went wrong?" Bilbao is the son of yet ano ther Amos Bilbao, and the famil y hails from Bilbao, in northern Spain . Amos Sr. is a character in his own right, a squa t, swarthy, arch etypa l Span iard wh o will drink wi th anyone (he ha s a p art icular pen ch ant for Scot ch w hiskey) and who ca n swear enthusiastically in seve ral languages. He is all the m ore likabl e as, wh ile bein g fully supportive, he leaves his son to get on wi th his ow n life. Schoolbo y fathe rs please take note.. . Amos Jr . joined the tw o-wheel offroad scene just like many others, en tering competitions as a seven-year-old. . "For the first three years I mixed both tria ls an d mo tocross," said Bilbao . "To tell the truth, my first love is mo tocross, and always was. I was quite good an d wo n man y races, bu t to me it was just great fun . Wh atever I do , I like to have fun - you mu st understand that. But my paren ts did no t like me riding motocross, they 3ay it is too d angero u s, and I was also not very big for my age. "The n, when I w as ni ne, I stop ped riding motorcycles altogether and rod e on ly bicycle tria ls u nt il I was 16," sa id Bilbao. "I think this is why am still so enthusiastic ab out ridi ng motorcycles. Man y child ren ride every week end from the time they are babies to when they are 20 an d just bum out. I was good at bicycle trials and I enjoyed it, but I couldn't wait to get back onto a motorcycle." So in 1986, at the age of 16, Bilbao was back riding trials with a Beta. There was no beating around the bush, either, as he dived str aight in at the deep end, ridi ng the Sp anish World Rou nd . Tha t eve n t was held at Peralorna, and for the record, he finished 41st. "Th e p robl e m I have is being too small and the sections are too big," said Bilbao. "I still have that problem, this is wh y I have to clean every section. I can' t take a big safe foot like [o rd i Tarres or Tommi Ahvala, because my legs are too short. Maybe my foot wo n' t touch the gro und and I hav e a big crash. So, many times I either clean or crash:" . Bilbao stayed with Beta, ridin g select, ed World Rounds in '87, and he was still with the Italian marque when he finally broke into th e Wo rld Ch ampi ons hip ' points in '88 with a fine l lth-place finish at the fir st World Round ever held in Luxembourg. "I had a good year in 1988," said Bilbao. "I scored my first points and I finished the year 16th in the World Championship and also four th in the Spanish Ch ampi onship. Fo r ' 89, I cha nged to Fantic bec ause th e Sp anish im po rter Ja ime Sub ira was h el p ing' me a lot. I th in k it was a good m ove b e cau s e I scor ed p oint s in all the World Roun ds and finished eighth in the world and second in Spain." Moving on to '90, Bilbao rod e wi th a fuJI-factory Fantic contract, bu t des pite movi ng up to s ix th in th e w orld, h e found that riding for Pantie was not the easiest job in the world. Bilbao cleverly avoids any qu estions abou t that point in his career, preferrin g not to talk about it. Bilbao moved to the hugel y am biti ous Gas Gas factory in '91. H ere, the natu ral Bilbao talent was to flourish. "I had two brilliant years at Gas Gas:' said Bilbao. "I was already living in the area to be near Subira while rid ing Fantic, and having a Spani sh factory SO near wa s per fect. I rode the 330 mac hine - I like power - and kept my sixth place in the World Cham pionship in '91. "In '92 I mad e the breakthrough and won my first World Championshi p trial at Kiefersfeld on in Ger many," said Bilbao. "It was fantastic . And then I wo n aga in at the American round at Watkins Glen. I was riding at my best." Actu ally, Bilbao was probably riding too well, as his success made him que stio n h is bi g p osition at Gas Gas. Th e Spa nish concern saw [ordi Tarres as their best-e ver ch an ce of winning a World Championship for them, and h ad managed to entice him aw ay from Beta. "Gas Gas definitely wanted me to stay for '93 and offered me a very good contract," said Bilbao. "It w as very easy for them to d o that, bu t not so easy for me to acce p t ! I tho ugh t I was ri d ing w e ll enough to be a number -one rid er, or at least to be treated as an equal. "Montesa had a new bike and came up with a very good deal. I thought that it was a good opportunity to be a nu mber-one rider, especially as Honda w as becomi ng more involved. "In '93, I rode a stand ard Co ta 312, tuned to how I wanted it. It wo rked very well and I was happy," sa id Bilbao. "I won anothe r World Round in Fra nce , and was second twice in Lu xembourg and Brita in, an d I w as ha ppy to keep fourth place in the wo rld ." Which brings us to the big qu estion. Wha t wen t wrong in '94? The p lain hard fact s are that in '93, Bilbao scored 152 cha m pionship p oints to se cu re his fou rth -p lace ranking . In ' 94, h e a masse d jus t 45 p oints a n d slumped to 12th . After seven rounds, he had a mer e 20, an d only a late face-saving run saw him rescue a top 15 position. . Accord ing to man y insid ers, the problem lay with the s pecial d ev elopmen t ma chine which Mont esa had provid ed for Bilbao. They had altered the steering geo metry and to most "outsiders, " the bike appeared to b e unstabl e. Bilbao didn' t seem ab le to bal ance , and all too